Press releases

In response to Johnson & Johnson's and Novovax release of Phase 3 Trial results of their respective COVID-19 vaccines, Niko Lusiani, Senior Advisor with Oxfam America, said: 

“Today marks yet another hopeful achievement in the fight against the coronavirus. Thanks to tireless scientific efforts, and funding from taxpayers like you and me, these two new vaccines could help turn the corner in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. The speed that the virus is mutating is only reinforcing the need for mass-produced vaccines available to everyone, everywhere, as soon as possible." 

The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their COVID-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world’s poorest to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic, reveals a new Oxfam report today. ‘The Inequality Virus’ is being published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum’s ‘Davos Agenda’. 

The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their COVID-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world’s poorest to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic, reveals a new Oxfam report today. "The Inequality Virus" is being published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum’s ‘Davos Agenda’.

The conflict in Tigray compounded by climate-fueled locust infestations and coronavirus has left millions of people in desperate need of humanitarian aid yet access to those affected continues to be restricted, warned Oxfam today. 

Oxfam warned today of the risk of an outbreak of coronavirus in the over-crowded camps where people are sheltering following Friday’s earthquake in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

In response to US Secretary of State Pompeo’s decision to designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Policy Lead Scott Paul said: “Secretary Pompeo’s decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization is a counter-productive and dangerous policy that will put innocent lives at risk. This designation will not help to resolve the conflict or provide justice for the violations and abuses committed during the war; it will only compound the crisis for millions of Yemenis fighting for their survival.

Cyclone Yasa landfall in Fiji yesterday, carrying destructive winds of up to 345km/h, heavy rain and storm swells, has flattened homes and left major devastation to roads, and vegetation. More than 600,000 people in the South Pacific island nation are now affected, thousands of which are already in evacuation centers as the tropical storm disrupted access to essential utilities including water supply and sanitation facilities, as well as food.

New Oxfam research shows that over a third of the world’s population has had no public money to cope with the effects of the pandemic. A new report “Shelter from the Storm” reviewed government programs used to inject additional money to help people and found none of them were adequate to meet everyone’s needs.

Responding to the Climate Ambition Summit proceedings, Tim Gore, Head of Climate Policy at Oxfam said:  “The Climate Ambition Summit lacked real ambition. World leaders must step up in the next 12 critical months to pull the world back from the brink of catastrophic climate change.” 

The news that the Sanofi/GSK vaccine will not be ready until the end of 2021 is a bitter blow for poorer nations. Sanofi-GSK was set to provide nearly one third of COVAX doses – the global vaccine purchasing facility upon which many of the poorest countries depend.